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The windows through which we see wonderful thingsSun, 25 Jan 2015 22:27:55 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on On Realism in Fantasy and Joss Whedon’s Winifred & Wesley by «Joss Whedon is a badass» « Cultural newshttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/on-realism-in-fantasy-and-joss-whedons-winifred-wesley/#comment-399
Sun, 25 Jan 2015 22:27:55 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=404#comment-399[…] the next Weather in the WtNV sequence is fascinating. «Winifred» by Seth Boyer is about a character from Joss Whedon’s TV series, Angel. The song is sung from the perspective […]
]]>Comment on Halloween special 2013: Lovecraft’s Mountains of Madness by The Naturalism Out of Space | Wondrous Windowshttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/halloween-special-2013-lovecrafts-mountains-of-madness/#comment-358
Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:04:13 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=402#comment-358[…] though, it’s really damn good. It may be his best, though “Call of Cthulhu” and At the Mountains of Madness are also contenders, obviously. In this story a reporter from the big city comes to the countryside […]
]]>Comment on What I learned about symbolism and magic by Fictional Magic, Real Practice pt 3 | Wondrous Windowshttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/what-i-learned-about-symbolism-and-magic/#comment-352
Thu, 02 Oct 2014 18:52:51 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=364#comment-352[…] That’s certainly a problem. It’s difficult, to say the least, to puzzle out the meaning of the magic itself in something like Mistborn or Wheel of Time, since they’re (to certain degrees or others) completely systematized to the point that they’re simply, well, game mechanics in a fiction instead of a game – and, let’s be honest, that’s exactly what’s happening here. Sanderson has been blissfully open about his love of gaming and its influence on him. However, we can still see that there’s a problem here – we are, while reading Mistborn, attempting to make sense of the book, divine its meaning, if you will. The system adds little, and possibly distracts us, from that effort. (By the way, I wrote about Mistborn once already). […]
]]>Comment on Fictional Magic, Real Practice pt 2 by Fictional Magic, Real Practice pt 3 | Wondrous Windowshttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/fictional-magic-real-practice-pt-2/#comment-351
Thu, 02 Oct 2014 18:52:47 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=497#comment-351[…] original interlocutor made a comment on my last piece, so we have some more to go on this week! Pontifus’s original question (which, […]
]]>Comment on Fictional Magic, Real Practice pt 2 by Pontifushttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/fictional-magic-real-practice-pt-2/#comment-350
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 00:46:07 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=497#comment-350Okay, let me finally clarify what I was talking about on Twitter like three weeks ago. The stuff you’ve posted so far is relevant. But here’s my core idea, and it’s pretty simple, maybe obvious: there’s a difference between magic as a plot device and magic as a practice.

As practice magic is the use of/belief in/construction of metaphor to get what you want. (Is that remotely accurate?) As a fantasy plot device, magic is just literally metaphor, like everything else in a story. There are no rules for it beyond thematic appropriateness, or beyond the basic requirement that a story not be a barrage of nonsense information, which I think may be the same thing.

Which is why it bothers me when magic in fiction is highly systematized. Practical magic might be a mode of perception or a means by which the will alters the world. Fantasy magic is kind of the opposite, I guess? Or it moves in the opposite direction. It’s the will of the world in which it happens. When characters can follow a series of actions and get the same result every time with scientific precision, it doesn’t feel like thematic will anymore. I want it to be more fickle than that. It should feel like negotiation as much as or more than it feels like pulling a trigger. Or, there should always be exceptions that make reliance on rules sort of a dodgy prospect.

Magic in games is probably its own thing when it’s an aspect of play and not just scenery. Different requirements.

Practical magic in fiction would almost strike me as realism rather than fantasy. In that case it becomes a metaphor, but less like a fireball’s a metaphor, more like washing dishes is a metaphor.

Insofar as fantasy magic is a metaphor, it might be a metaphor for practical magic.

Taking fantasy magic out of its context and putting in real life, making it practical, seems like a process of translation. Which, that’s fine, and maybe the point is making the IRL context more closely resemble the fictional context? I’m pretty open to the idea that, beyond the most basic bodily functions, we always operate on the level of metaphor anyway. So possibly it doesn’t matter at all.

]]>Comment on Return to the Long-Boxe! by Shadhttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/return-to-the-long-boxe/#comment-333
Wed, 27 Aug 2014 21:10:06 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=484#comment-333Shane makes a great point. People hate Azbats because he’s not Bats, which is, as stated, the point. If you keep reading on into the KnightsQuest storyline, it’s made a point to show Valley’s continuing sanity deterioration. It continues to tick down all the way until KnightsEnd, when the hallucinations are full-on sabotaging.
]]>Comment on Return to the Long-Boxe! by Shanehttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/return-to-the-long-boxe/#comment-332
Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:15:27 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=484#comment-332There’s another bit you’ve glossed over on this. Denny O’Neill started this arc for a very particular reason. JPV Bats was a reaction to what was essentially the clamor for the mainstream Bat comics to be more like Miller’s comics, more like a lot of the other 80’s and 90’s heroes who were so grim-dark. Denny, who was the editor of the bat titles at the time, said, ‘Fine, you want the Punisher as Batman? Here, have it, and here are all the reasons it’s bad.’
]]>Comment on “Life is evil here, and Death the great goal…” The Fourth World Finale! by On Lady Thor GodGender | Wondrous Windowshttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/life-is-evil-here-and-death-the-great-goal-the-fourth-world-finale/#comment-311
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 04:28:56 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=347#comment-311[…] You should know by now of my affection for Kack Kirby’s Fourth World. You may see it here and here, for instance. Jack Kirby was instrumental in creating the character of Thor. In fact, with the […]
]]>Comment on And so destiny has brought us to this… the Fourth World! by On Lady Thor GodGender | Wondrous Windowshttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/and-so-destiny-has-brought-us-to-this-the-fourth-world/#comment-310
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 04:28:53 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=285#comment-310[…] You should know by now of my affection for Kack Kirby’s Fourth World. You may see it here and here, for instance. Jack Kirby was instrumental in creating the character of Thor. In fact, […]
]]>Comment on On Realism in Fantasy and Joss Whedon’s Winifred & Wesley by cuchlannhttps://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/on-realism-in-fantasy-and-joss-whedons-winifred-wesley/#comment-307
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 05:17:35 +0000http://wondrouswindows.wordpress.com/?p=404#comment-307I already said it on Twitter, but HOLY SHIT HI SETH!

I’m glad I managed to make you happy. I’m beginning to believe this whole “remix culture” we live in might be the best thing ever (you know, where a guy makes a show, you make a song about the show, and then I write about the song and the show, each “remixing” what came before).

About Whedon’s writing: I’m not sure I knew that about his advisory capacity. Given how much I like the first seasons of each, you’re probably right. It’s a bit much to ask anyone to supervise that much at once, never mind the person who wrote it all up. I really do dislike the first Avengers movie, though it makes me feel like a douche to say so (I know so many people who like it). But Firefly’s still some of the best TV I’ve ever seen, and you’re absolutely right about loving the characters before they’re killed (though GRRM never did it for me, alas).